‘Call Of Duty: Black Ops 3’ Trailer Warns Of Technology Out Of Control

Activision is ramping up its official reveal of Call of Duty: Black Ops III on Sunday with a new teaser trailer to set the stage. The PlayStation, Xbox, and PC shooter is going even further into the future than its predecessor and setting the stage for a conspiracy of cybernetically enhanced super-soldiers.

“In the next 50 years, technological advancements will lead us into a world where only those who risk going too far, will find out how far we can actually go.”

The Black Ops III video starts by looking back at technological advances over the past 20 years or so that have allowed humans to begin to exceed their normal boundaries and limitations. It treats this as the baseline as it covers even greater technological advances over the next 50 years that result in modified humans with bionic limbs, replacement organs, and DNA upgrades. Some enhancements even allow individuals to share their thoughts.

This all leads to the year 2065, where a whistleblower accuses the United States of possessing cybernetic upgrades that are light years ahead of what is available for citizens. These upgrades are being used to turn humans into super soldier weapons.

The Call of Duty teaser then cuts to grainy footage of three soldiers in the middle of a firefight. When the camera switches to thermal imaging and focuses on one of the soldiers, you see that his legs, arms, and eyes are not giving off heat because they are no longer flesh and blood.

The themes of enhanced humans that Call of Duty: Black Ops III is setting up should be familiar ground for those who have followed science fiction over the past few decades. There are elements of everything from the Ghost in the Shell anime to the Deus Ex video games.

Developer Treyarch will be putting its own spin on these familiar narrative plot points. It won’t be the first time as it successfully covered the Cold War period with the original Black Ops before jumping to the near future and the dangers of drone warfare with Black Ops II.

The teaser trailer itself is full of little Easter Eggs. For example, the CourtOptic retinal implant commercial shown in the video comes with a reference to a website that works.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III will get a full reveal on Sunday, April 26. For those who wonder, it’s doubtful we’ll find out anything about a new Zombies mode at that time as the gameplay mode is something that has typically been revealed later.